Government Guaranteed BSNL Bond released got CRISIL AAA(CE) rating and subscribed by 2.2 times higher with in 1 and half hour by getting overwhelming response, collects 17183.10 crores…
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited today issued Government Guaranteed Bonds of 10 years’ maturity, on a private placement basis, and the bond got an overwhelming response from the investors, BSNL offered Government Guaranteed unsecured, redeemable, listed, taxable, Non-Convertible Debentures of the face value of Rs. 10 lakh each at par, with a base issue size of Rs. 1000 Crores with an option to retain oversubscription up to Rs. 7500 Crores, aggregating to total issue size of Rs.8500 Crores, on a private placement basis through BSE, Electronic Bidding Platform(EBP).
The Bonds have been assigned a rating of “CRISIL AAA(CE)/Stable” by “CRISIL Limited, “CARE AAA(CE) Stable” by CARE Ratings Limited, and “BWR AAA(CE)/Stable” by Brickwork India Rating Limited.
Where this type of highly rated Instruments considered the highest method of safety in terms of the financial obligations service at the lowest credit risk and suggested as the best option in investment pattern.
The bidding through BSE EBP was held on Monday, the 21st September 2020 between 10:30 A.M. and 12 Noon, and at the close of bidding, bonds bid worth Rs. 17,183.10 Crores were received from 229 Investors, where Rs.3700 crore were subscribed by qualified institutional investors such as ICICI Lombard, Punjab National Bank, Postal Life Insurance and SBI Life Insurance.
The issue was subscribed over 2.02 times of the total issue size and over 17 times the base issue size of Rs. 1000 Crores and this is the largest Government Guaranteed Bonds issue in recent times, which received such an overwhelming response, and the coupon rate is also best in comparison to other similar offerings in recent times.
Sri P. K Purwar, CMD BSNL informed that BSNL Management has decided to retain the full subscription of Rs. 8500 Crores at a coupon rate of Rs. 6.79%, and these bonds are planned to be listed on BSE soon and are to be used for Debt Re-financing and meeting the CAPEX requirement of BSNL.
CMD BSNL said that the Investors’ response indicates the high level of trust of the all investors including Banks, Mutual Funds, Pension Funds etc. on the State owned telecom service provider (BSNL).
This newly issued Government Guaranteed Bond is a part of the BSNL Revival package announced in October 2019 after the Union Cabinet approval, which includes the Voluntary Retirement Scheme to employees of above 50 years, Land Asset Monetisation, 4G Spectrum allocation, and MTNL merger with BSNL.